The ministerial decision issued by the Ministry of Labour on setting religious holidays for Christians drew widespread criticism for failing to achieve full equality among all denominations in Egypt, in what was described as lacking fairness, reflecting sectarian discrimination and being inconsistent with the principle of equal citizenship guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution.
In an attempt to contain the controversy, Minister of Labour Mohamed Gebran held a meeting on Tuesday with Dr Freddy El-Bayadi, a member of the House of Representatives, member of the General Evangelical Council and representative of the Evangelical Community, and its head, Rev. Dr Andrea Zaki, to discuss the organisation of feast holidays for Christians. During the meeting, El-Bayadi called for unifying feast holidays for all Christians, as shared occasions that strengthen citizenship and equality among Egyptians, away from any discrimination.
On 30 December, Gebran had issued a decision on setting the religious holidays due to Christians subject to the provisions of the Labour Law. The ministry affirmed that the decision came after reviewing the constitution, the new Labour Law, and previous decisions of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Labour, and that it aims to entrench the principles of citizenship and equality, while taking religious specificity into account and achieving stability within the work environment.
The decision, which came into force from the day following the date of its publication in Al-Waqa’i’ Al-Masriya, stipulated that Christians, in addition to the holidays specified in Article 3 of Minister of Labour Decision No. (294) of 2025, are entitled to leave on their religious feasts in accordance with the provisions of the Prime Minister’s decree issued in this regard.
Researcher Ishak Ibrahim, who is in charge of the freedom of religion and belief file at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, believes that the wording of the decision was ill-judged, both linguistically and substantively, especially since it came in implementation of a provision in the Labour Law requiring the competent minister to issue a decision specifying the holidays for non-Muslims, but the wording and the application revealed a clear flaw.
He explains to Zawia3 that the decision opened with language unsuitable for official correspondence or legislative texts, and that this wording reflects a discourse addressed from the position of the majority to the position of the minority, which contradicts the concept of citizenship and equality that is supposed to govern administrative and legal decisions.
The second, and more serious, problem with the content of the decision, according to Ibrahim, is that religious holidays were divided on the basis of a text copied almost verbatim from a previous decision issued in 1953, without taking into account the fundamental changes that have occurred in the state and society over more than seventy years, whether at the level of constitutions, the nature of the relationship between citizens and the state, or the evolution of how religious and social occasions are viewed.
He points out that some of the occasions mentioned in the decision, such as New Year, are not a purely religious occasion, but rather a cultural and social occasion of a global character, while Christmas is already an official holiday established by a previous presidential decree. However, the new decision has produced additional problems concerning how a worker’s religious denomination is to be determined, and he asks whether this would be done on the basis of the worker’s own declaration, or by requiring official proof, such as certificates issued by the religious denominations, which opens the door to new legislative and administrative complications.
He adds: “These complications empty the decision of its basic content, which is to organise religious holidays and prevent potential disputes between the worker and the employer. The decision, in its current form, does not solve the problem so much as it creates additional confusion within the work environment, and it also involves clear discrimination, not only on a religious basis, but on a sectarian basis as well,” stressing that the constitution and the principles of citizenship do not permit any discrimination between citizens in rights and duties on the basis of religious or sectarian affiliation.
In response to the decision, the Catholic Church in Egypt issued an official statement, in which it expressed its regret at the failure to achieve full equality among all Christian denominations, particularly with regard to the feasts of the members of the Catholic Church, considering that this is inconsistent with the principle of equal citizenship guaranteed by the constitution.
The statement, issued on 3 January, earlier this month, by Anba Ibrahim Isaac, Patriarch of Alexandria for the Coptic Catholics and President of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Egypt, affirmed that the members of the Catholic Church are an integral part of the nation’s fabric, and that the decision issued is not in harmony with the national approach of the Egyptian state, which is based on justice and respect for plurality.
At the same time, the Evangelical Community in Egypt sent an official letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Mostafa Madbouly, regarding the decision. The letter, signed by Rev. Dr Andrea Zaki, head of the Evangelical Community, set out the necessity of unifying feast holidays for all Egyptian Christians, stressing that this strengthens the principles of citizenship and equality and contributes to entrenching the values of national unity among the Egyptian people.
For his part, Father Rafic Greiche, media spokesman for the Catholic Church in Egypt, considers that the Ministry of Labour’s decision on religious holidays reflects a clear intellectual flaw, holding that relying on an old decision and re-adapting it in this way is completely unacceptable and reflects neither the developments of the state nor its current constitutional path based on the principle of citizenship and non-discrimination, and stressing that this approach is unbecoming of a minister, in a reference to the absence of political and constitutional judgement.
He tells Zawia3: “It is unacceptable for a minister in the government of Egypt to issue a decision that is in keeping neither with the intellectual level of the President of the Republic nor with the nature of the modern Egyptian state and its orientations based on the principle of citizenship.”
In the same context, Shenouda El-Amir, a researcher on Coptic affairs, affirms that the Minister of Labour’s decision lacks fairness and equality, and reflects a flaw in dealing with Christians as equal citizens, noting that the decision divided holidays among the Christian denominations without taking into account the demographic or doctrinal differences between them, which creates a feeling of discrimination and sectarianism.
He explains that Catholics and Protestants received fewer days of leave compared with the Orthodox, even though some rites are shared among the denominations, which makes the division illogical and increases frustration among the less represented denominations. He notes that New Year, for example, is not a religious feast in the first place, but a cultural and social occasion celebrated by everyone, so it cannot be allocated to one particular denomination only.
“This problem is not new; it goes back many years, as Christians have grown used to a feeling of discrimination in the setting of feasts and holidays, especially for fixed feasts such as Christmas, Easter and Holy Week, and the government’s decision dealt with Christians as denominations and not as one community, which creates unjustified division,” he tells Zawia3.
He adds: “The latest decision reflects an attempt to curry favour with the Christian majority denomination, that is, the Orthodox, at the expense of the other denominations, which lacks any doctrinal or logical justification. The state, as an official body, must deal with all Christians as one community in festive and social matters, just as it deals with Muslims as one group, and it must guarantee the freedom to celebrate feasts for all citizens, including minority denominations and Baha’is.”
El-Amir concludes that the current division of sectarian holidays entrenches a feeling of discrimination and inflicts injustice on many citizens, calling for the decision to be reconsidered and for all Egyptians, whatever their denomination, to be given the right to religious and social holidays without discrimination.
Ignoring Sectarian Plurality Within Society
The Minister of Labour’s decision, and other similar decisions, entrench religious and sectarian discrimination, and contradict the official discourse that speaks of entrenching the concept of a state of citizenship, since the essence of citizenship rests on full equality between citizens in rights and duties without any discrimination on a religious basis, whether between different religions or within the same religion on a sectarian basis, as affirmed by labour and human rights lawyer Haitham Mohamedein.
Mohamedein believes that Egyptian Christians, of their various denominations, Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical, must be equal in rights, noting that the state often deals with the Coptic Orthodox Church as the sole or the largest representative of Christians in Egypt, whereas the other denominations have their own representatives and religious institutions, and it is not right to ignore them when taking decisions that affect the rights of their followers.
He tells Zawia3: “This approach appears clearly on official occasions, where Christians are often represented only through the Orthodox Church, alongside representatives of Al-Azhar or the Ministry of Endowments, without taking into account the sectarian plurality within the Christian community, considering that this treatment is inaccurate and establishes a flaw in the concept of representation and equality.”
The human rights lawyer stresses that religious feasts should, in principle, be holidays for all Egyptians without distinction, whether they are Islamic or Christian feasts, explaining that a feast, whatever its religious affiliation, is a general social occasion on which citizens get a day off, which strengthens the feeling of participation and belonging, instead of entrenching a division between those who celebrate and those who go to work as if the matter does not concern them.
He points out that restricting holidays to those belonging to a particular religion entrenches the idea of social separation, stressing that holidays should not be described as a “holiday for Christians” or a “holiday for Muslims”, but should be a public holiday for everyone, which requires real and serious work to entrench the concept of citizenship in public policies. He criticises the logic of employers and some official bodies that consider holidays too numerous and disruptive to work, stressing that the reality indicates that working hours in Egypt are extremely long, sometimes in violation of the law, and that holidays and feasts are an inherent right of workers for psychological and physical rest, and must not be treated as a favour or a burden.
He adds: “Christians used to get religious holidays, but fewer in number compared with the Islamic religious holidays, because of the large number of religious occasions recognised for Muslims. The solution does not lie in division or discrimination, but in considering every religious occasion a public holiday for all citizens, given that the state is a neutral entity that does not belong to any particular religion.”
Mohamedein explains that the Labour Law provides for the right of a Muslim worker to one month of paid leave, once during his entire period of service, to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, noting that the same provision grants Copts similar leave to visit Jerusalem, but this leave is suspended in practice because of a national church decision not to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem as long as it remains under occupation, which has effectively deprived Christians of this leave.
He adds: “True justice and citizenship require full equality in holidays and rights, without religious or sectarian discrimination, and any policies or decisions that contravene this principle entrench discrimination and undermine the foundations of the civil state based on citizenship.”
Dividing Citizens
The decision issued by the Minister of Labour reflects a detachment from reality and from history, as it relied on a ministerial decision dating back to 1953, that is, seventy years old, whereas laws, constitutions and social conditions have changed, and there are now officially recognised feasts, among them 7 January as an official feast and an official holiday for all Egyptians, in the view of MP Freddy El-Bayadi.
He explains that the principle governing the question of religious holidays should be based on unifying occasions and feasts for all Egyptians, not dividing them into denominations, warning of the danger of this approach, as it opens the door in the future to dividing citizens on other sectarian bases, such as granting holidays to Sunni Muslims alone or to Shia alone, on the pretext of differing religious occasions, which is unacceptable and undesirable.
He tells Zawia3: “The decision was issued without consulting any of the denominations whose holidays it set, and the principle itself is wrong, as is the methodology of thinking about organising holidays. The text of the decision also used the term ‘Protestants’ to refer to the Evangelical Community,” stressing that laws and official decisions, since the days of the Hamayouni Decree, have spoken of the “Evangelical Community” and never use this term at all, which shows that the minister’s advisers did not consult the representatives of the denominations concerned before taking the decision.
El-Bayadi points out that the exclusion of occasions such as Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday from the holidays for Catholics and Evangelicals raises fundamental questions, asking on what basis this exclusion was made and which body decided that these denominations do not celebrate these occasions, in addition to the practical problem of how to determine citizens’ affiliation to their denominations, given that there is no official classification of denomination alongside religion in official documents, and he considers this path unacceptable.
The MP reveals that the Minister of Labour asked to meet him to discuss the decision, affirming that he will discuss with him the need to reconsider it, since it is rejected both in principle and in application. Regarding the reliance on the new Labour Law No. 14 of 2025, he explained that the law granted the competent minister the right to organise holidays, but did not provide for dividing Christians into denominations, stressing that if holidays for Christians are being discussed, they must be unified holidays for all Christians without discrimination or distinction.
MP Evelyn Matta Bishay agrees with him that the decision is ill-considered and lacks a correct understanding of the nature of the Christian feasts, which have been observed in Egypt for many decades without problems, affirming that the state has always followed a clear pattern that respects these occasions without the need for invented decisions.
She tells Zawia3: “Dividing Christians into denominations in an administrative decision poses a practical and legal problem, given the absence of any sectarian classification in official documents or identity cards, which makes the decision inapplicable from the outset and reveals it to be an ill-considered decision.”
Regarding what the decision stated about some major feasts such as Maundy Thursday and Palm Sunday, Evelyn believes that treating them as partial occasions or ones restricted to working hours is a matter for ridicule, affirming that these feasts have been official and sovereign holidays since the founding of the Church, celebrated by churches and states, and on which banks and major institutions close.
She adds that Christian feasts are guaranteed by law, and that workers receive their salaries during them without deduction, warning that applying the decision in its current form may open the door to imposing penalties on workers, or forcing them to treat the feasts as casual leave or to deduct them from their leave balance, which was not previously the practice, whether in the government or the private sector.
She explains that Egyptian Christians have been used to celebrating their feasts according to their different denominations without this constituting a crisis in the work environment, noting that employees used to get their religious holidays normally before 7 January was approved as an official holiday for all Egyptians by a decision of the President of the Republic, which ended any disparity or confusion in this regard, calling on any official to study his decisions carefully before issuing them, and considering that such decisions reflect a lack of appreciation of the nature of society and its religious diversity.
The MP refers to her personal experience, explaining that Christian workers in the private sector used to receive their religious holidays with pay by virtue of custom and administrative stability, especially in remote work sites, where it is neither practical nor logical to burden the worker or the employer over a single day, considering that the timing of the decision, just before the feasts and coinciding with the start of a new year, raises questions about its motives, and affirming that throughout her years of parliamentary work she has not seen similar decisions issued, particularly without consultation or public discussion.
Evelyn does not recall the new Labour Law having addressed, directly or indirectly, the organisation of religious holidays for Christians or dividing them by denomination, explaining that the decision can be reviewed, amended or cancelled by a subsequent decision, but the current parliamentary situation limits the possibility of submitting questions or immediate briefing requests, pending the formation of the new chamber, and predicting that parliament will see strong moves as soon as its constitutional procedures are completed.
In conclusion, Ministry of Labour Decision No. (346) of 2025 on religious holidays for Christians remains the subject of wide controversy among official bodies, religious denominations, and legal and human rights experts, as it raises questions about equality, justice and the citizen’s right to practise his religious rites without discrimination.
The various reactions indicate that addressing this problem requires a careful review of the decision in a way that achieves justice among all Christian denominations, guarantees respect for the principles of equal citizenship guaranteed by the constitution, and prevents any feeling of discrimination or sectarianism in the work environment.
At the same time, dialogue with religious bodies and civil society remains essential to ensure that official policies are compatible with the religious and social diversity of Egypt, and to strengthen the values of national unity and social stability.
